The margins at the highest level in sport can be so tight and Mayo's quest for an elusive All-Ireland title is one such example.
The men from the west have fallen short four times in the last six years by a combined total of seven points while Dublin have won their most recent five Championships by the same cumulative margin.
Mayo's loss against an unfancied Kildare in Newbridge in Round 3 of the qualifiers signalled the end of the road for the current squad by many but Off the Ball's Dave McIntyre thinks there's still plenty to come from Aidan O'Shea and co. in the near future.
Speaking on OTB AM on Friday, he said: "We've spoken so much about Mayo and the aftermath of the defeat in Newbridge and, bar one or two little moments, like two own-goals in one half of an All-Ireland final - the margins are so, so tiny. Mayo could have emerged from this decade with two or three of four All-Ireland titles - instead they've got none.
"Dublin have won their five All-Ireland's by a cumulative of seven points. They beat Kerry by three in one year and the rest were all won by a single point - so that's five finals and you've won them by seven points.
"There's a very good piece by Paul Rouse on the back page of the sports supplement of the Examiner this morning where he lists out some very logical reasons why this need not be the end of this Mayo team - most notably the fact that pretty much a third of them were either not there at all or the guys like Cillian O'Connor and Lee Keegan weren't anything close to full fitness or weren't 'match sharp' as they normally would be at this stage of the season."
Catch Friday's OTB AM podcast here:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
